Typically, electrosurgical devices have one or more electrodes that are heated when power passes through the electrodes to perform a surgical procedure. These electrodes after performing the surgical procedure may become hotter and hotter and heat may be dissipated from the electrosurgical device through convection. As these electrodes heat up the tendency of tissue to stick to the electrodes and/or working arms may increase. This sticking of tissue may increase the amount of time to perform a surgical procedure, increase bleeding, damage tissue or a combination thereof. Some attempts have been made to circulate a cooling fluid through the electrosurgical device to cool the electrosurgical device during a procedure and/or between uses. The addition of a cooling fluid may require one or more fluid lines that run to and/or from the electrosurgical device, which may restrict movement of the surgeon, add to the weight of the electrosurgical device, add to the complexity of the device, or a combination thereof. Further, a constant flow of fluid may restrict the ability of the user in controlling the temperature of the electrosurgical device and/or components that are desired to remain heated may be cooled and this cooling may affect performance of these components. Some attempts to cool an electrosurgical device may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,492,231; 5,417,686; 5,647,871; 6,733,501; 6,860,882; and 8,100,694 all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
The electrosurgical device when heated may be used to cut tissue, cauterize tissue, coagulate, or a combination thereof. Cutting, cauterization, and coagulation creates smoke that may be inhaled by the user and the smoke may have adverse effects for the user. Recently attempts have been made to increase ventilation in operating rooms to dissipate the smoke as it is created, however, the user may still inhale some surgical smoke. Some attempts have been made to evacuate smoke directly from the electrosurgical device, some examples of which are found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,235,982; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0270265; and European Patent Application No. EP0582483 all of which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
It would be attractive to have an electrosurgical device where temperature of the electrosurgical device is controlled so that tissue does not stick to the electrosurgical device. What is needed is an electrosurgical device that evacuates smoke while the smoke is created. What is needed is an electrosurgical device that produces multiple different therapy currents and controls the temperature of the various components depending on the therapy current being used. What is needed is an electrosurgical device that includes a self-contained cooling system that is in communication with a heat sink.